Introducing God
About This Series:
This 8-part sermon series, "Introducing God," aims to deepen your understanding of God's nature, person, work, and existence, asserting that what one believes about God is the most important thing about them. It challenges the widespread lack of desire to study God and emphasizes that an accurate knowledge of Him is foundational to how one walks with Him, obeys Him, and navigates life's complexities. The series consistently directs listeners to biblical revelation as the definitive source for understanding God, while also noting that creation points to His attributes.
Sermons In This Series
Waiting to be Wanted
(Selected Scripture) This inaugural message introduces the profound importance of studying and knowing God, defining theology as the logical study of His person, nature, and attributes. It presents creation and divine revelation (Scripture) as key resources for understanding God, while acknowledging that His infinite nature can never be fully grasped by finite minds. The sermon emphasizes that God desires to be known and outlines several benefits of this pursuit, including wisdom, direction, fruitful living, courage, and security in life.
The Suffering King
(Acts 17:1–9) This sermon emphasizes that understanding God begins not with personal beliefs, but with what God has revealed about Himself, primarily through the Bible. It examines Paul's ministry in Thessalonica, highlighting his method of dialoguing, explaining, and providing scriptural evidence for Jesus as the suffering, dying, and resurrected Messiah. The message illustrates how Paul's proclamation of Jesus as "another king" challenged the status quo and was seen as treason, causing an uproar and leading to the formation of a local church.
A Good Model for an Open Mind
(Acts 17:10–15) This message presents the Bereans as a positive model of open-mindedness, contrasting their eager reception of Paul's message with the hostility encountered in Thessalonica. It highlights their diligent practice of "examining the Scriptures daily" to verify the truth of what they heard, likening it to careful legal research. The sermon concludes by advocating for an open mind anchored in the objective truth of God's Word, prioritizing its examination and personal application over subjective feelings or societal views.
Divine Appointments
(Acts 17:16–21) This sermon explores Paul's arrival in Athens, portraying the city as both "intuitively religious" due to its numerous idols and temples, and "intellectually curious" with various philosophical schools. Paul's spirit was provoked by the widespread idolatry, prompting him to engage in dialogue in the synagogue and open-air evangelism in the bustling marketplace. The message characterizes these encounters, including his debates with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, as "divine appointments" orchestrated by God to introduce the one true and living God.
Setting Aside Superstition
(Acts 17:22–24) This message delves into Paul's iconic address on Mars Hill, highlighting Athens' deep-seated religiosity and intellectual curiosity, yet revealing its underlying "inward anxiety" as symbolized by an altar dedicated "To AN UNKNOWN GOD". Paul masterfully uses this altar as a point of connection, asserting that he will proclaim the very God they ignorantly worship, thereby strategically avoiding the charge of introducing a new, forbidden deity. The sermon explains the historical context of the "Unknown God" altars, setting the stage for Paul to introduce the Creator God.
In the Beginning
(Acts 17:24) This sermon centers on Paul's declaration of God as the Creator, who "made the world and all things in it," underscoring divine intention, planning, and forethought behind the universe's design. It challenges evolutionary theories that propose creation by "chance + time," citing the conversion of prominent atheist Antony Flew and the staggering complexity of DNA as evidence for a deliberate Designer. The message asserts that God is the sovereign Lord of all creation, fundamentally refuting ancient Athenian myths of origin.
Adam and Eve - For Real
(Acts 17:25–29) This sermon expands on God's role as Creator, specifically focusing on His creation of humanity "from one" common ancestor, a literal Adam. This biblical truth refutes evolutionary and racist theories of human origin by affirming a single human race. The message stresses the theological importance of a literal Adam for understanding sin's entry into the world and the gospel's provision through the "second Adam," Jesus Christ. Furthermore, it asserts God's absolute sovereignty as the "Controller of history," determining the existence and boundaries of all nations.
The Other Side of the Gospel
(Acts 17:30–34) This concluding message introduces the "other side of the Gospel," focusing on God's attributes of justice and wrath and the reality of a coming judgment. Paul proclaims that God "has fixed a day" to "judge the world in righteousness through a Man... whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead". The sermon differentiates between the Bema Seat judgment for believers (for rewards) and the Great White Throne judgment for unbelievers (for eternal condemnation), emphasizing the eternal stakes. It concludes by illustrating the three common human responses to this truth: ridicule, procrastination, and belief.